May the Best Mobian Win
by ShinyShiny9
Summary: Every year, the crew on Mobius holds an Olympics-style competition, and this year it's bigger than ever before. With almost everyone competing one way or another, things are bound to get pretty wild! But between all the racing action and unlikely winners, will the contest ruin any friendships? Or...will it do the opposite?
1. The Event Begins

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co, or Maria the Hedgehog.**

Once a year, the gang on Mobius held a mini-Olympics of sorts. There were usually a few events of varying seriousness, just a fun little get-together organized faithfully from year to year. This year's event, however, promised to be a real treat. The mini-Olympics were less "mini" than they had ever been.

This year, there were going to be three events: a foot race, an air race, and a strength competition. Almost everyone was going to participate in some manner. All the usuals were there, and for good measure, this was the first year Shadow, Rouge, and Omega were on good enough terms with everyone else to actually be there too. Maria hadn't even been around last year, but this year she was competing. Jet, Tails, Charmy, and Marine were going to take part as well. Almost everyone was excited beyond belief. For several days, a special place near a stand of woods buzzed with activity, as podiums and tables and crates and equipment were set up to create an event hub, where all the competitions would start and end.

On the day of the mini-Olympics, everyone gathered early in the morning, rubbing sleepy eyes and murmuring subdued, brief conversations. To everyone's mild dismay, the rain that had started last evening was still carrying on now, drizzling but cold. The ground was absolute slop. Besides even that, an argument had already started. Being such a little event, the mini-Olympics had no official rules, meaning that any anomalies had to be ironed out among the contestants. Right now, this entailed a dispute between Sonic, Shadow, Blaze, and Jet.

"Look, who asked you to start kicking up a fuss here?" asked Sonic, somewhat irate from the early hour, the wetness, and the lack of coffee. "You have a hoverboard. You can fly on it. So go compete in the flight race where you belong!"

"No! You have to let me join the foot race!" protested Jet, stamping angrily. "I'm telling you, this is a brand-new experimental extreme gear. It's way faster than your average gear, but it hasn't been tested properly! Wave hasn't even had time to give it a thorough checkup, so I don't know if it's even remotely safe to ride. I don't want to be flying half a mile up when I suddenly find this thing is a dud!"

"Then don't participate at all," snapped Sonic. "This is going to be a running race. If you can't run, too bad for you."

"Sonic, that's not fair," said Blaze calmly. "Jet came all this way, and he really wants to compete. You wouldn't want to endanger his safety by forcing him to participate in the flight race, would you?"

"Can't you see it's just some kind of plot?" growled Sonic impatiently. "This is all way too fishy! He's planning to cheat!"

"He can't cheat. There are no rules. You said that yourself, Faker," cut in Shadow, giving his first contribution to the discussion.

"But...b-but..." Sonic stamped his foot impatiently. "Fine! Go ahead and cheat! I just _know_ you have Wave and Storm hidden somewhere to give you help!"

"Technically, that'd be perfectly legal," sighed Blaze, as Shadow nodded.

"Yeah! Besides, I do not!" scowled Jet. "They're back at our headquarters—they just didn't feel like coming!"

"Ohhh, is that it?" smirked Sonic, hands on hips. "I get it...they knew they didn't have a chance of winning anything here, and they didn't feel like coming just to watch _you_ fail."

"You—y-you—" sputtered Jet. Clearly, Sonic had struck too close to home—and he knew it.

"Some friends you got there," he jibed.

Jet was about to explode, but he was suddenly interrupted by another party entering the fray.

"Everybody shut up!" ordered Rouge, sailing in authoritatively. "Jet, Sonic, I don't wanna hear another word. You're going to be stuck with each other's company all day, you're going to be pleasant and agreeable, and you're going to like it! Got it? Now let's hear some apologies around here."

Seizing Sonic and Jet by the wrists, she veritably threw them against each other, then folded her arms in a no-nonsense manner and tapped her foot. Shadow chuckled under his breath—seven A.M, and Rouge was already very much herself.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Jet glared each other down. However, Sonic sighed and looked away first.

"Look, forget what I said, all right?" he said grudgingly. "I...get kinda hateful if I wake up too early."

"Yeah, whatever," shrugged Jet, looking away with a scowl. "Don't see what I did wrong, but sor-ry."

Sonic's ears drooped slightly in shame as he tabulated insults. Yup, he'd started it. Seriously, Jet had come all this way, and was probably sad that his teammates hadn't even bothered to come and support him; did he really need anyone giving him a hard time and throwing accusations in his face? For shame, hedgehog. Still, Sonic wasn't about to apologize fully. Not to Jet, and certainly not in front of the others. The two rivals just shook hands stiffly and parted ways.

With that minor fracas out of the way, the contestants in the ground race started warming up. Sonic, ostensibly "testing the ground," disappeared off somewhere. Jet checked over his extreme gear as best he could, asking Wave terse questions over a walkie-talkie. Shadow and Blaze whizzed around in tight circles, getting used to the conditions.

"Are your rocket shoes working okay?" asked Rouge, as Shadow applied the brakes and slid neatly to a halt in front of her.

"It's just dry enough that the flames aren't affected," said Shadow, nodding. "Actually, I think these conditions will do very nicely."

"Seriously? It's a greaseboard out there!"

"Doesn't bother me," said Shadow, smirking slightly as he glanced off at the horizon, where the race would soon be unfolding.

Meanwhile, Silver was watching Blaze warming up.

"Are the conditions really bad?" he asked, tilting his head worriedly.

"Certainly not very good, but I think I can manage," said Blaze, accustoming herself to the strange slip and give of the muddy ground. "My fire powers are down to almost nothing because of the rain, but I won't be needing them in this race. Otherwise, it isn't so bad. After all, everyone else will be racing under the same conditions."

"Except Jet," remarked Silver. "His board doesn't touch the ground. No wonder Sonic was mad about him joining the ground race."

"Extreme gear is not nearly as fast as Sonic, Shadow, or me at full speed," said Blaze confidently. "This may be a special new model, but I still feel that we all stand a good chance against it."

"I know you do," smiled Silver.

Soon Sonic came dashing back, with the scent of coffee on his breath.

"That could count as cheating too, Faker," remarked Shadow, and rolled his eyes when Sonic stuck out his tongue at him. The racers began to circle around near the start line, trading jibes and pacing slightly in place, waiting for the signal to start.

Maria climbed onto a little platform that had been set up with a podium and a microphone. She had been designated the announcer and quasi-referee for most of the event, which meant she'd be listing the few rules of the race and calling the start.

"Hi everyone!" she piped cheerfully. "Welcome to the yearly Mobius competition! It's really great to be here with all of you. But we all know what we came here for, so let's get down to the events! We're going to be starting off with a high-speed ground race between our four contestants, Sonic, Shadow, Blaze, and Jet. Let's all give them a big hand!"

She stifled a giggle at her own theatricality, but enthusiastically supported the rest of the crowd in clapping and calling encouragement. The racers waved or nodded in acknowledgement, for the most part smiling.

"All right now, just a quick explanation of the rules," continued Maria when the noise died down. "First of all, there is no set track to follow. You have to get to the checkpoint in Caramel Canyon, punch in, and come back here, but how you do that doesn't matter. The only rule is that you _must_ follow whoever is in the lead at the moment. The leader chooses the course at all times! We have a tracker set up right here, showing everyone's position on a map with a colored dot. If somebody strays too far away from the track left by the others, they are out.

"Otherwise, there are no rules. You're free to use any power-ups you find along the way. You're also free to create obstacles for the other racers, crash into them, trip them, pull their hair, insult their cooking, pretty much anything you want. That is, up to a point. No permanent injuries, please! You know who you are."

There was a murmur of laughter as Shadow spread his hands innocently. For Maria, he could take a joke.

"All right then, I think that covers it!" Maria resumed. "Racers, on your marks!"

"Get ready to eat mud, Spikes," muttered Jet.

"Get set!"

"Ooh, can I get fries with that?" Sonic retorted.

"GO!"

Damp earth spurted up from under three pairs of shoes and one extreme gear, as the racers took off with a blinding speed. They were gone in seconds, a rush of wind following in their wake.

"Whoo," said Maria dizzily, straightening out her hair. "And they're off!"


	2. The Ground Race

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co, or Sonic X, or the Sonic games.**

**For American readers, Happy 4th of July!**

* * *

The four racers stayed together in a tight pack at first. They sized each other up surreptiously as they ran, judging how much of a threat each rival was. Jet's hoverboard was surprisingly fast—he would be more of a problem than they had expected. Shadow was slightly ahead of everyone else; he would be a severe threat too. His supply of energy was enormous, dwarfing even Sonic's, so he hardly needed to pace himself like the others did. Unless something drastic was done, he would be leading the entire race.

The solution soon appeared up ahead in the distance: a dash plate. Sonic caught sight of it first, and mentally crossed his fingers. Please don't let Shadow use it, please don't let Shadow use it...

Shadow glanced briefly at the dash plate, but breezed right by. Typical Shadow, stuck-up as usual. Sonic wasn't about to pass up a free boost, though. He threw himself at the dash plate and felt it fling him forward, revving him way ahead of Shadow. Grinning, he put a little more effort into it so he could stay ahead of Blaze, who was also using the dash plate. Jet couldn't, of course—an added bonus!

Sonic's jubilation was cut short when he felt a familiar breeze at his left elbow. Shadow had evidently laid on the speed and caught up to him anyway. Dangit! Sonic glared sidewise at his rival, who merely rolled his eyes and pulled ahead just a little, so he was still in front. Sonic studied the smooth stroking of his jet skates. Well, time to start playing rougher.

Pushing himself a little harder, Sonic rocketed up next to Shadow again and suddenly veered sideways. Shadow dodged calmly, then veered in turn, smacking into Sonic with no small amount of force. At the speed Sonic was going, he tumbled straight into an involuntary spindash.

Oh, that did it. Ending the spindash smoothly on his feet, Sonic kept right on running. With a little effort, he again pulled ahead of Blaze–Jet was way in the back by now–and finally caught up to Shadow again.

"Hi there!" he chirped brightly, pulling even with the annoyed-looking hedgehog. Then, surprisingly, he fell back a little, letting Shadow lead. Shadow knew this trick, however—Sonic had used it countless times before. He sped up, trying to get farther ahead, but it was no use. Sonic reached out with his left hand and laid it firmly on Shadow's right shoulder, gripping lightly so he couldn't be shaken or shrugged off. Then he fell back even a little more, so Shadow could feel a steady weight being placed on his shoulder.

Now normally, this would be no problem. Shadow could pull a freakin' dogsled and still keep up a smarting pace, if he wanted to. But the main difficulty lay in the difference of the two hedgehogs' strides. Sonic ran at a constant speed, with his feet flying in a smooth blur, his entire body bobbing rapidly up and down as he hammered the ground. Shadow, on the other hand, ran in smooth waves of increasing and decreasing speed. Like an ice skater, he'd push with one skate and burst forward, slow ever so slightly over time, then push with the other skate for another burst of speed. No matter how much he was laying on the power, his feet didn't move a tenth as fast as Sonic's, and his body stayed perfectly level at all times, even while stroking. Watch the Sonic X scene where Sonic and Shadow race side by side, you'll see what I mean.

At any rate, the wildly varying rhythms did not mesh well with each other. At the beginning of a stroke, Shadow was going faster than Sonic; by the time he was ready for the next stroke, he was going slower. One minute Sonic's arm was pulling on his shoulder, the next it was pushing, and all the while Sonic's constant bobbing translated down it in a steady, distracting pulse. Shadow managed to keep this up for three strides before he stumbled, skidded, caught his balance for the briefest instant, then fell hard, tumbling over and over, plumes of muddy water leaping up behind him.

This would have given Sonic a significant edge—if Shadow hadn't managed to trip him on the way down. He tried to save himself with a spindash, but instead landed hard on his stomach and skidded, sliding to a halt right next to Shadow.

"Oww..." he groaned, blinking mud from his eyes. He lifted his head just in time to see Blaze bearing down on the two hedgehogs, with Jet just behind her. Blaze wasted no time; she leaped lightly right over them. Jet carved hard to the left, arced past them, then continued on. Meanwhile, Shadow was sitting up gingerly.

"Idiot," he muttered in Sonic's general direction.

"Whoops," grinned Sonic sheepishly, sitting up as well and rubbing the back of his head. With a growl, Shadow scrambled to his feet and disappeared like magic.

"Hey!" yelped Sonic, and shot after him. At the speed he and Shadow were going, the mud whipped right off them in an instant. They were completely dry two seconds later. But man, Shadow wasn't pacing himself _at all_. He had again shot towards the front, and was in the process of catching up to Blaze. Meanwhile, Sonic nearly tripped over Jet, whom Shadow had sent sprawling on his way towards the front.

"Serves ya right!" called Sonic, skidding past the irate hawk. Jet bolted back onto his gear and shot after him.

All this time, the racers had been tearing through fields and sparsely wooded areas, mostly out in the open. Now, however, they were approaching the locale of Caramel Canyon. Tall walls of orange stone rose up on either side of them, and pillars of similar stone rose up unexpectedly in the middle of the pathway. Usually, a dash through the canyons would raise enormous clouds of dust that boiled and billowed beautifully in the wind currents, but now of course there was nothing but a greasy sort of sludge on the canyon floor. That, coupled with the unexpected pillars and the racers' insistence on smacking into each other, was leading to some interesting pinball action.

"Gangway!" whooped Sonic, passing Blaze. To his surprise, she veered hard and tried to hit him. He hadn't expected that.

"Hey hey, don't make me hit a lady!" he protested, trying to dodge.

"All bets are off," retorted Blaze through her teeth. Gulping, Sonic pulled ahead hastily.

"Where's that checkpoint?" he called, his voice echoing off the canyon walls. "A-HA!"

Up ahead in a large clearing was a black metal construction, slightly larger than a washing machine and shaped something like a gumdrop. On each side was a large colored square, with the name of the racer it belonged to written in large letters. An antenna protruded from the top of the device, to immediately notify the crowd back at the event hub that one of the buttons had been pressed. Shadow had just pressed his own button, a red one, and was about to head off.

Sonic came whirling up to the device at full speed. Slowing only slightly, he grabbed the antenna on the top and spun around and around the machine like a guy spinning around a lamppost in some cheesy musical. At least, until the antenna broke off and sent him careening into a cliff wall.

"Owwwww," he groaned, rubbing the back of his head. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Shadow, pausing at the mouth of the canyon to look back and shake his head silently. He didn't say a thing, but he didn't have to.

Real smooth, Faker.

Grumbling, Sonic stomped back to the checkpoint device and plonked the antenna back down into its hole. Luckily, it hadn't broken, just come out, so it might still work. He hoped.

Blaze came whirling in and punched her own square just as Sonic was punching his. The two of them set out, neck-and-neck, as Jet finally came roaring into the clearing behind them. Sonic took care to pull ahead of Blaze again.

Soon they left the canyon area and started to run across broad open fields. The ground was far from level, though—there were rolling hills and gullies and all manner of phenomena. Some of the racers skirted or swerved around these obstacles, while some plowed right over.

Shadow was still in front, but he could hear Sonic's splashing feet drawing closer from behind. Hmm...he hadn't yet tried working the terrain...time to test it out.

He waited for Sonic to draw a little closer, listening to the hedgehog's swift breaths tailing him closely, dogging his every move. Perfect. Waiting for the right moment, Shadow bolted...right towards a cliff. Just when his intentions began to look dubious, he suddenly made a sharp turn, nearly a ninety-degree swerve, his rocket shoes slicing the air neatly.

Sonic wasn't so lucky. He tried to turn and continue pursuing Shadow, but although his body and feet turned in the correct direction, his overall motion continued straight onwards. He leaned hard and dug the edge of his shoes into the wet ground, treading uselessly as he tried to grip. He might have succeeded, but Blaze had just locked into a similar skid from right behind, and she plowed straight into him, her feet knocking against his ankles. The two of them sailed off the edge, with nothing more than a startled "Woah!" from Sonic.

It wasn't really a cliff. It was more of a steep, tall embankment, which sent the two racers tumbling swiftly down the slope and splashing into the water collected at the bottom. That, too, was shallow enough that even Sonic couldn't panic. All in all, nothing damaged except their pride—and their chances of regaining the lead.

Shadow's head popped briefly over the top of the embankment.

"You all right?" he called.

"Oh, thaaaaanks for asking!" retorted Sonic bitterly, heaving himself up off his stomach. A short, dark laugh slapped at his ears.

"There's some benefit to having shoes that don't touch the ground, Faker!" Shadow called down, and vanished from sight.

"Mannnn, we've been had," groaned Sonic, as Blaze stood and attempted to brush herself off. The two of them dashed at the slope, but made it only halfway up before sliding rapidly back down. They attempted running starts, but that did no good either. Soon they heard the whine of Jet's extreme gear as even _he_ passed them.

Sonic plunked down in the shallow water, rubbing his head.

"What say," he asked, "we build up a sorta partnership? A temporary one?"

"Tell me what you have in mind," said Blaze seriously.

Soon Sonic, being the stronger one, was planting his feet firmly in the ankle-deep water and grabbing Blaze's wrist with both hands. Bracing himself, he spun around and around and around, swinging Blaze around himself faster and faster. At _just_ the right instant, he let go, and Blaze shot up the slope face. She just barely managed to scrabble her way to the top, then hurried off to fetch a tree branch. She tossed it down to Sonic, who began using it as a climbing pick.

"Go on without me!" he called up.

"I'll stay," declared Blaze, a strange smile in her voice. "While I was getting the tree branch, I saw what lies ahead on the track..."

Soon Sonic was at the top and running by Blaze's side again. He whooped with delight when he saw what Blaze was talking about—a so-called DoubleShot. It was like a very powerful slingshot that one could use to create an absolutely epic burst of speed. The only catch was, it took _two_ people to operate.

"Perfect, perfect, perfect!" cheered Sonic. "Blaze, you know the plan. You go ahead, create some advantages for us, I'll follow!"

"And then the partnership ceases, yes?" smiled Blaze.

"Yup," chuckled Sonic. "But thanks anyway."

Blaze quickly leaned her shoulders against the strap of the strange device. Sonic rapidly pulled various levers and pushed various buttons, and jumped back as Blaze shot forwards. Flames spurted from the ground in her wake, nevermind the inch or two of standing water! She was going at unimaginable speeds, and she was handling it just fine. Grinning, Sonic took off after her with all his might. With any luck, he'd be able to pass Jet again before the plan came into action.

Meanwhile, Shadow was going at a fair clip, pacing himself only slightly. Suddenly, a breeze licked at his left elbow. He glanced that way to see Blaze passing him at a rocket-like speed, panting slightly with exertion, her eyes fixed ahead in determination. He raised his eyebrows slightly—so, they'd gotten out of that pit faster than he'd expected! And evidently used that DoubleShot too. Well, no matter. He'd let her lead for a little while, wear herself out; he could easily pass her whenever he wanted to.

He hadn't reckoned on Blaze's next tactic. She curved her path slightly, heading towards the event hub only obliquely. The race to the checkpoint may have been fairly straightforward, but the race to the finish line promised to be a lot more indirect. Shadow was just starting to wonder what Blaze was up to when she suddenly turned slightly and dashed towards a large pond that lay to the right. She didn't stop when she reached it, either—at her speed, she easily skimmed right over the water.

Shadow slowed a little, suddenly uneasy. He'd never tried to cross a body of water with his rocket shoes before...well, a first time for everything, eh? He dashed straight out after Blaze.

Very quickly he regretted this decision. The water felt totally wrong under his shoes. It just...gave. On the ground, the force from his jet shoes hit solid earth and pushed Shadow forward. Over water, the force hit a fluid...and moved the fluid. With a halo of water springing up around his shoes, Shadow slowed as rapidly as if he'd hit something, then teetered in place precariously. Soon one foot disappeared underwater, and the rest of him was quick to follow.

After a few seconds he resurfaced, coughing, and blinked the water from his eyes. Dangit...they'd actually found something that he _couldn't_ do. And what's more, used it! Before he could think much more, Sonic came blazing in, his feet flying. Without hesitation, he shot across the water too, effortlessly slicing over the surface.

"There's some benefit to having shoes that _do_ touch the ground, Shads!" he called gleefully as he skimmed past.

Ouch.

Weighing his options, Shadow decided it'd be faster just to swim across the pond than to swim back to shore and circle around it. Diving under the surface, he kicked smoothly along, listening to the rain pattering on the water above him and surfacing for air only rarely. Soon he heard a rush of bubbles and felt a rolling current sweep over him—Jet had evidently crossed the pond on his hoverboard. Great.

Surfacing on the other side of the pond at last, Shadow shook himself off. Then came the problem of his jet shoes, which were waterlogged. He'd have to knock the water out of the jets before he had even a prayer of going anywhere. Darn, darn, darn.

Soon enough he was back in the race. Laying on the speed as best he could with his jet shoes still soggy, he began to draw close to the others again, just in time to see them approaching a broad canyon.

Blaze was still in the lead, but not by much. She leaped right off the edge without hesitating for a second, landing neatly at the bottom and continuing on. There were stairs leading up the other side of the canyon, used by tourists or whatnot; she barely needed them. Her jumping skills were the most enviable on Mobius.

Meanwhile, Sonic was also unfazed by the canyon. He didn't bother jumping. Instead he just whizzed down the stairs on one side and up the stairs on the other side, not even slowing. Jet shot right over the canyon's top, drawing ahead of Sonic but staying just behind Blaze.

And Shadow? Merciful heavens. They'd just found _another_ one of his weak points: stairs. Gliding footsteps don't do you much good when you're trying to climb stairs. After jumping to the bottom of the canyon, his upwards progress slowed to barely faster than an average person's. Growling in frustration, he changed tactics and sprang up the stairs a dozen or two at a time. If he remembered correctly, on the other side of this canyon was a field full of rocks, where gliding footsteps would also be impractical.

This...was going to be difficult.

**A/N: Ooh, bit of a cliffhanger, I guess. Just as a bit of trivia, the earlier parts of the race were based on the battle with Shadow in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Generations. I've seen playthroughs of those where Sonic seems to run up just behind Shadow and stay there, and suddenly Shadow starts spewing rings and eventually goes down. Not sure what's really happening there, but that's my theory on it. **

**Also, Caramel Canyon's design is based on an old computer game my siblings and I used to play a long time ago. Glitch-wise, it put Sonic '06 to shame, which was the main fun of it. Ah, good times...now I'm just rambling. Anyway, Happy 4th!**


	3. From Land to Sky

**A/N: Bonus reference hunt! If there are any SonicSong182 fans out there, there's a reference to one of their videos in this chapter! Virtual cookies for anyone who can find it. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co, or Maria the Hedgehog, or the SonicSong182 work referenced...or the work that _it_ references, just to be thorough.**

* * *

At the finish line, all the non-racers were gathered next to the ribbon, milling about excitedly.

"They're coming! They're coming!" whooped Tails, who was positioned high above the others, his tails whirring.

"Who's in the lead?!" came up the cry. Tails squinted into the distance as Rouge flapped up next to him, unable to contain her curiosity.

"It's Blaze!" called Tails. "But Sonic and Jet are right behind her, and they're closing the gap!"

"Where's Shadow?" asked Rouge, squinting as well and shading her eyes.

"Gee, I don't see him," said Tails. "Maria?" he called down.

"He's still moving!" called Maria, studying the monitor with its little colored dots. "He's just...pretty far behind the others."

"Now Sonic's in the lead!" broke in Tails. "Ohmigosh ohmigosh, oh no!"

"What?! What?! Keep us posted!" protested the crowd down below.

"Jet is trying to knock him down!" called Rouge. "And now Sonic's slamming him sideways without even slowing! And now Blaze is pulling up next to them!"

"They're still slamming into each other! Now Jet's crashed into Blaze!" hollered Tails.

"They're skidding! They're skidding! Blaze is stumbling!"

"Blaze is dow—NO! She's still up! She's still running!"

"She's swerving into them TOO!"

"Now Sonic's spindashing! He's pulling ahead!"

"Jet's in a tailspin! No, he's still going!"

"Holy COW, is he putting on the speed now! He's doing it!"

"He's in the lead again!"

"_He's widening the gap!_" Tails screeched, waving his arms furiously. The crowd down below could barely hear them, they were so busy screaming support for their favorite runner; by now they could all see the approaching figures anyway.

It took thirty seconds more of chaos and hollering, but at last the racers shot across the finish line, buffeting the onlookers with a burst of wind and splattering them with muddy water. Jet crossed first, going so fast that he wiped out the minute he tried to stop. He hit the ground and skidded a good fifty feet over the slickery surface, spinning as he tried to get his hoverboard below him again. Blaze crossed the line just behind him, and meant to slow down enough to stop safely—but then, Jet was now in her way. She went down pretty hard. Sonic, in third, locked into a skid and tried to change direction, but merely joined the pileup.

All of this happened within the space of three seconds; about point-one seconds later, the racers were gingerly sitting up, laughing helplessly between gasping breaths. Their friends crowded around, but Espio and Silver held everyone back, calling "Give 'em room, give 'em room! Let 'em breathe!" Jet was the first to recover enough breath to speak.

"YAHOOOO! I won!" he screeched, then kicked off his hoverboard and dunked the tail end of it–which had caught fire–into a puddle. Then he tossed the board aside and flopped back down, still panting. "Gosh darn it, I WON! Finally!"

"Not bad, Feathers," conceded Sonic, laughing. "Good race, man."

Jet grinned and high-fived him, too happy even to brag. Sonic was going to congratulate Blaze too, but by now the others were all pressing in, and Amy had him by the neck.

"Geez Amy, it's only a third place!" laughed Sonic. "Seriously, I oughta retire!"

"You were great anyway," squealed Amy, squeezing whatever breath he had regained back out of him.

Meanwhile Silver offered a hand up to Blaze, who had regained her composure and was blushing furiously, trying to wick the mud off her dress.

"Blaze, you were amazing too!" grinned Silver. "You beat Sonic! Think of that!"

"Wait Silver, I'm all—" protested Blaze, but Silver had already thrown his arms around her.

"You're getting all muddy," Blaze giggled resignedly, hugging him back.

"Strewth!" hollered Marine, jumping on them both.

Suddenly Rouge, who had been flapping overhead keeping an eye on the horizon all this time, shouted down, "Hey, here comes Shadow!"

"He's still in?!" exclaimed Sonic, finally wiggling loose from Amy's embrace. "Good sport!"

"Let's give him three cheers!" called Tails from overhead.

Amidst the ensuing ballahoo, Shadow exploded into view over the crest of a hill, straining forward furiously, little more than a blur, long tails of fire spurting from his rocket boots. He shot across the finish line a full minute behind the others, carved right as hard as he could, and began to trace a broad circle around the crowd, gradually slowing until he slid to a complete stop. He stood with his hands on his knees for a moment, breathing hard, eyes shut.

"You okay, Shadow?" asked Rouge, landing next to him and tilting her head anxiously. Omega also trotted over, stepping cautiously—at his size, slipping would be a menace.

"I'm fine," said Shadow. He straightened up without looking at his teammates and tossed his quills back into order with a violent shake of his head. "That went poorly."

"We're just glad you're okay," said Rouge, although a little forcedly. She couldn't help it; she hated losing, and this was a pretty humiliating loss to boot. She struggled not to ask, but it popped out:

"What _happened_ out there?"

"Several bad judgments," said Shadow, still not looking in her direction. "And terrain difficulties. And general bad performance."

"Oh," said Rouge. Before she could muster up something comforting, a few others trotted over, led by Sonic.

"Hey Shadow," said Sonic, extending a hand to shake. "Don't be mad, 'kay? It was a rough race, and it wasn't your day, that's all."

"It was not," agreed Shadow, shaking his hand curtly. Even though Shadow didn't look him in the eye either, Sonic still caught a glint of forcibly suppressed anger in his rival's expression. Maybe even because of that.

"You're not gonna get all sulky, are you?" Sonic asked, hands on hips. "Come _on_, Shadster, I came in third and I'm okay with it! Makes for much better reading anyway, when somebody else wins for a change."

"Blaze?" asked Shadow.

"Nope. Jet."

"Worst possible scenario," groaned Shadow. "He'll be even more intolerable now."

"Eh, I'll cut him back down to size when that happens," grinned Sonic. "For now he's keeping his big beak shut."

"Mm." Shadow nodded. "Good race then. Congrats."

"You too," said Sonic, and trotted off. He bit his tongue hard to stop himself from adding a teasing comment. Even he had to admit it stung a little, deep down inside, to be in third place. And to be in fourth, that far back—well, he couldn't blame Shadow for being angry. At least he was doing his best to be a good sport.

A few of the others came up with words of congratulation or comfort, but they kept it concise. Anyone could tell that Shadow was just barely keeping below the "Yeah, yeah, are you _finished_ yet?" mark.

* * *

Preparations started for the flight race. Some last-minute arguing over the rules took place; at last Maria stepped up to the mike again.

"Okay, the rules for the flight race are pretty much the same," she began, smiling. "But this time you don't have to follow the leader. You're allowed to go anywhere and do anything you want, as long as you stay in the air. The only objective is to fly to the hoverpod set up five miles away, grab your color headband, and fly back here, still with the headband, of course. The finish line is marked by a laser beam between those two trees."

Maria pointed up to the top of two huge old pine trees nearby. In the light drizzle, a faint red line could be seen, sparkling in the raindrops.

"The laser will automatically record who crosses its path first," explained Maria. "Don't worry, it doesn't hurt. But don't look right into it."

"Don't worry kid, I'll be going past it wayyyyy too fast to look at anything," said Rouge under her breath, smiling grimly. Her wings flapped slightly with anticipation, faster and faster, tracing a tiny arc up and down. She stepped over to join her teammates. Shadow was sitting quietly on a crate, scowling at his shoe; Omega was beeping softly.

"Is that front still there?" Rouge asked him quietly, glancing around to make sure nobody was nearby.

"Accessing weather feed...tracking...affirmative!" replied Omega. "Strong northwards jet stream present slightly east of shortest linear route to hoverpod."

"Perrrrfect," crooned Rouge, lifting off the ground slightly and adjusting an earphone in one of her ears. "Keep me posted, you two. I'm planning to win Team Dark's reputation back!"

"Good luck Rouge!" whirred Omega as Rouge swooped off to the starting line.

"Yeah, good luck," said Shadow through his teeth. The jab was not lost on him.

Meanwhile, Sonic was trying to psych Tails up good and proper.

"Tails—Tails, listen to me for a second," he said, taking the little fox by the shoulders. "Yo, _Tails!_"

"Uh—oh—oh! Sorry Sonic," said Tails sheepishly, shaking his head hard and turning to look at Sonic. He had been craning his neck to look over his shoulder all this time—Marine was busily checking all of the X-Tornado's moving parts.

"Tails, don't worry about her," sighed Sonic, seeing Tails' glance again wandering. "You need to focus on the race, big guy!"

"But you know what she did to the X-Tornado the last time she flew it!" protested Tails. "What if she completely wrecks it this time?"

"Knowing you, you'll be able to rebuild it," said Sonic cheerfully.

"But that'll take forever!"

"Tails," sighed Sonic. "Listen. You can't stop Marine from participating. She made a deal with you, remember? She isn't even that serious about the competition—she won't be flying rough and reckless to get in front, she just wants to learn what a big race is like. The X-Tornado will be fine! But you, big guy—_you_ need to focus and win that thing. Team Sonic has a reputation to keep up!"

Tails gave him a look.

"Annnnd I've done a lousy job of keeping it up myself," grinned Sonic sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "I know. But hey—maybe it's your turn to be the hero today!"

"I dunno, Sonic...Silver's really fast, and Rouge is pretty quick too. I'm not sure what I can do against them...You won't be mad if I don't come in first?"

"Not even if you come in last!" assured Sonic. "But you won't, I know it. Just keep those tails whirring, okay?"

"Yeah, go out there and show 'em what you can do, Squirt," advised Knuckles, thumping Tails on the back. Tails winced, but grinned and nodded determinedly.

"I will guys! See you later!"

He spun his tails and banked off to the starting line. Silver and Charmy were just lining up too. They high-fived him cheerfully and turned to check the X-Tornado's progress, which was pretty much non-existent. Marine was leaning out of the cockpit, deep in conversation with Cream.

"Um, Marine?" called Maria into the microphone. "Marine, could you please approach the starting line? Marine?..."

Marine evidently hadn't heard; she was still gabbling away intently.

"May I?" asked Blaze politely, stepping up to the podium.

"Of course," said Maria sheepishly, stepping aside. "I'm sorry, I can't seem to—"

"_Marine!_" Blaze half-shouted into the microphone. Marine jumped, nearly fell headfirst from the cockpit, waved her arms wildly, and managed to flip herself back upright into the pilot's seat.

"Well, you don't have to _shout_, mate, I've got ears!" she hollered back indignantly.

"Marine, you are holding up the entire race," said Blaze sternly, stifling a smile. "Why aren't you at the starting line?"

"Oy, if _that's_ the way you're gonna be, I'll stay right here!" Marine shouted back. Several of her friends were trying not to laugh by now—leave it to Marine to cause a scene.

"Very well then, we shall proceed without you," said Blaze calmly. "Maria, would you please call the—"

"WAIT!" shouted Marine. "Hold on, mates, would you? Strewth!"

"What is it, Marine?" sighed Blaze.

"C'n I have a passenger? Cream wants to come too!"

"Are you sure, Cream?" asked Amy gently, crouching down to look the little rabbit in the eyes.

"I know I'm a little too young," said Cream timidly, "but I really want to be in the race! But I can't fly, or run fast, and I'm not strong..."

"Do the rules say anything against having a passenger?" asked Amy, turning to Maria.

"There _are_ no rules!" replied Maria, who had regained the mike. "So...unless any of the other racers have an objection?"

"None!" chorused the others.

"Then it's okay!" said Maria cheerfully.

"Congratulations, Cream! You're going to be in your first big race!" smiled Amy. A few of the others came to shake Cream's hand solemnly. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement.

"Come on, mate, we're still holding up the race here! Blaze'll have my tail!" protested Marine.

Sonic boosted Cream up into the passenger seat of the X-Tornado and made sure she was buckled in.

"You be careful now, you two!" he warned. Marine gave him a thumbs-up, then powered up the plane's propeller. Meanwhile, Amy headed over to the starting line.

"All right you guys," she called over the X-Tornado's rising din. "I know there's no rules in this race, and you're allowed to smack your opponents around all you want. But I'd better not catch any of you trying to knock those two little girls out of the sky, got it? Watch what you do!"

"Amy honey, I intend to be just as rough as I want," replied Rouge coolly. "It's not my fault that all the little kids wound up in the flight race!"

Amy folded her arms and tapped one foot.

"Oh, for Pete's sake," sighed Rouge, relenting. "Do you honestly think I could take out a full-sized biplane? I won't hurt them!"

Amy shook her head warningly and stalked off.

"Yeesh," muttered Rouge, as Marine slowly taxied the X-Tornado into place at the starting line. "This is going to be kind of boring. I'm stuck competing against a bunch of kids!"

"And me," said Silver.

"Yeah...you're the only one I'm really worried about," said Rouge, then grinned. "I'll be sure to take you out first."

"Don't count on it," retorted Silver. "Since you're the only _real_ competition, it'll be easy keeping an eye on you."

Meanwhile Tails, over whose head they were talking, folded his arms grumpily.

"Racers, on your marks!" called Maria. "Get set! Go!"

Rouge, Silver, Tails, and Charmy shot into the air at once. The X-Tornado picked up speed, then gracefully took off and headed off after the other racers. At least, until it suddenly pulled up into a loop-de-loop.

"_Marine!_" shouted Blaze, rather futilely. "Oh, for goodness' sake."

"Tails must not be happy..." murmured Sonic.

Meanwhile, the other fliers couldn't resist gathering to hover in a cluster just past the start line, still trading banter and eyeing the X-Tornado's antics in disbelief—except Tails, who had his eyes covered.

"Okay, so they're just having fun," said Rouge drily, as she watched the little biplane executing a barrel roll.

"Let's not get distracted," said Silver, "standing" in midair with his arms folded. "Let them clown around if they want—we've got a race to—uh—fly! Tails, c'mon buddy, get a hold of yourself. Don't forget I flew with Marine the last time she piloted your plane. She's pretty good at it, really."

"WHEEEEEE!" came a joyous squeal from the X-Tornado's general direction.

"Ignorrrre it," ordered Silver. "Last warning to get going, Tails. I'm outta here in three...two..."

"One!" shouted Rouge, already shooting off.

"No fair!" called Silver, taking off in persuit. Charmy buzzed determinedly after them, while Tails cast one last sad glance at the X-Tornado and followed the rest.


	4. The Flight Race

**A/N: Okay, so the reference in the last chapter was Tails, and later Silver, talking about Marine flying the X-Tornado before. That refers to SonicSong182's "Silver's Neverending Story." It's a game made up of linked YouTube videos, based on the original "Neverending Story" book and movie. Silver and Marine go out on a quest to find "somebody important" to both of them, and let you pretty much choose your own adventure. Really fun game! But anyway, within the game's plotline, Marine and Silver borrow the X-Tornado, and Marine crashes it in a storm. That's why Tails was so nervous. **

**Congratulations to Icy Fire 7 for guessing the reference correctly!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co.**

* * *

The racers stayed fairly even at first. The X-Tornado continued to perform a spectacular impropteau air show, but it kept more or less behind the group, buzzing faintly in the background. Silver tested several altitudes before settling on one with a favorable air current; Tails wasn't good in wind, so he stayed a bit lower. Charmy just popped up and down as he pleased, occasionally skimming along next to one of his opponents and chattering away glibly—whether to be friendly or a distraction wasn't quite obvious.

Rouge, however, seemed to have her own ideas. She suddenly veered to the right and flapped away, clearly sure of where she was going.

"What's Rouge doing?" called Tails. "She's going way off-course!"

"She must have something up her sleeve," sighed Silver. "A secret weapon or power-up stashed away somewhere, or something."

"Is that against the rules?" asked Charmy, popping up right in front of Silver. The hedgehog avoided him just in time.

"No, it's not!" he said. "And neither is pushing and shoving—so don't get in my way again, or I will shove!"

"Oooh, so we really can fight all we want?" grinned Charmy. "Let's do it!"

"No!" protested Silver, dodging as Charmy lunged at him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rouge flapped furiously along, waiting and waiting to encounter the jet stream.

"Omega!" she radioed in. "Is the jet stream still there? Has it moved? I'm not—woahhhh!"

"Rouge?" came Omega's robotic twang anxiously.

"Wooooohooooo! I've got it!" laughed Rouge, spreading her arms and feeling the furious wind rushing her along. "Wow! At this rate I should be there in no time!"

"Exercise caution," warned Omega. "The jet stream appears to pass through the clouds in several areas. There may be—"

"Omega, sweetie," said Rouge, rolling onto her back in midair and folding her arms sassily. "I'm a _bat_; I don't need to see all the time. Clouds are no problem for me."

"Do not forget that there is inclement weather. The clouds may contain violent air currents. I repeat; exercise caution!"

"Yes, motherrrr," laughed Rouge, flipping back upright and flapping her wings to go even faster. Back at the event hub, Omega and Shadow exchanged glances and shook their heads.

* * *

Back with the other racers, Charmy was trying to belabor Silver with his little six-year-old fists, but Silver zigzagged lightly out of his reach without so much as looking in his direction. Charmy tried sticking out his tongue and calling insults to draw his ire, but Silver only laughed.

"You'd be better off focusing on the competition, Charmy," he called. "Tails is way ahead of us, and Marine and Cream are just back there on our right."

"Wait, what?!" exlaimed Charmy.

"Made you look!" laughed Silver, shooting ahead.

"Heyyyyy, no fair!" wailed Charmy, and tried his best to catch up again. The two of them nearly mowed down Tails in their haste. The three racers began to feint and dodge playfully around each other as they flew, momentarily ditching the competition.

* * *

Meanwhile Rouge found that the jet stream really did go into the clouds. It shot up into the dark gray masses so suddenly that it took her by surprise. She quickly recovered, though.

"Experiencing cloud cover, do you boys read me?" she called. "Or has the signal died?"

"Staticky, but we read you," assured Omega. "How are conditions?"

"Lovely," replied Rouge. "Wet, damp, and clammy, but otherwise just delightful. I'm considering a nice—" she broke off as a sudden gust of wind buffeted her.

"I can hear it roaring all the way over here," came Shadow's clipped tones. "Rouge, what exactly is going on in there?"

"Just a brief breeze," retorted Rouge, struggling to regain her balance. "I'll be—agh!"

This time she was seized by a proper gale. It was unbelievable; it tumbled her like a loose newspaper and tore at her wings and hair and clothes and ears and slapped viciously at her face and stung tears out of her tightly-shut eyes; soon she no longer knew which way was up. Bolts of lightning cracked and exploded on every side, shaking her from the inside out, and rain lashed at her from every direction at once, driving straight through her clothes and her fur and practically through her skin, from the feeling of it. Soon her mouth and nose and ears were full of water. She could faintly hear Shadow and Omega shouting through the radio, but she was in no position to answer them.

* * *

Meanwhile, Shadow was stamping with irritation as he and Omega tried to get an answer from Rouge. They could hear horrendous bursts of static, and in between that the constant screaming and thundering of the wind blowing into the radio's microphone—but that was it. They had a pretty good idea of what was happening, but that didn't mean they liked it.

"What's going on here?" came a sudden growl. Shadow looked up to find Knuckles eyeing him and Omega suspiciously.

"You," said Shadow grimly, "are going to keep your big mouth shut."

"About what? You guys radioing Rouge with advice? Tracking her somehow? Doing something out of whack? As if I care!" snorted Knuckles. "There aren't any rules in this race. But what I want to know is, is she all right?"

"We have no idea," said Shadow. "Get lost, why don't you?"

"No," said Knuckles, and plunked himself down on a crate opposite Shadow, arms folded. Shadow gave him the "last warning" look.

"I'm staying here until I know she's all right," said Knuckles.

Shadow turned back to the radio with a growl. He lost no love for Knuckles, but he had no time to fight with him—also no desire to attract the others' attention with a brawl—also enough perception to catch the worried light in the back of Knuckles' eyes, and enough decency to feel sorry for him. The three of them waited silently, as the radio continued to alternately buzz and howl.

* * *

Rouge had a good perception of time. Her ordeal in the clouds didn't feel like hours—she was fully aware it lasted about fifteen minutes. Fifteen really, really, really _long_ minutes. Finally she felt herself being hurled out of the clingy dampness of the cloud into fresh, still air. Slowly she opened her eyes, coughed up the pint or two of rain she'd been forced to inhale, and loosened up from the tight huddle she had wrapped herself into—only to realize she was heading straight for the ground. Quickly she spread her wings and swooped gracefully back up to a safe altitude.

"Omega? Shadow?" she called into the radio.

"Reading you, Rouge," said Shadow, calm as death. That was never a good sign. "How are you?"

"Oh, a bit wet, but I'm fine," said Rouge, keeping her voice steady with difficulty. "I'm not sure where exactly I am, though..."

"I doubt you are in good enough condition to proceed," said Omega dubiously. "Perhaps you should land for a rest."

"And forfeit the race?! As if!" retorted Rouge. "I'm perfectly okay! What makes you think anything could possibly be wrong?"

"Suit yourself," said Shadow. Rouge turned off the radio with a snort and flapped higher and higher, hoping to scope out her position. She quickly realized she was waaaay off course. The storm had thrown her much, much farther to the east than she had intended to go. Still, she could see the hoverpod in the distance, but not any of the other racers. Maybe they hadn't reached the pod yet! Setting her teeth, Rouge dove in that direction.

Her heart sank as soon as she got there. There was only one brightly-colored strip of fabric hanging in one of the hoverpod's alcoves: her own purple one. She wasn't ahead, she was way behind! Jerking the headband into a tight knot below her ears, she shot back towards the starting line, muttering. There was still a chance she could catch up to the others...

**A/N: Goodness, what a lot of linebreaks! I guess it was because this chapter switched scenes so frequently, since the action was going on in three different places at once. Next chapter will be the ending of the race; the winner hopefully will be a bit of a surprise...**


	5. Flight Race Conclusion

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co, or Maria the Hedgehog.**

Up in the lead, the X-Tornado had finally settled down a little—maybe Cream was pleading airsickness, or maybe Marine had just run out of stunts. The little plane was still a good distance behind the others, though. Even if Marine hadn't been joyriding, the plane simply didn't have the kind of power needed to keep level with Silver at full speed. This didn't seem to bother the pilot and copilot in the least, judging by the happy wing-wiggle or leftover stunt that the plane occasionally executed.

"Boy, I'm tirrrrred," groaned Charmy meanwhile, hanging his head and arms from his wearily buzzing wings. "Can I have a ride, Silver?"

"Uh, what?" said Silver. Charmy attempted to land on his shoulders and catch hold of his quills for balance.

"No, you can not have a ride!" said Silver indignantly, flipping upside-down and shaking Charmy off.

"But I'm tirrrrred!"

"Then go ask if you can hitch a ride on the wing of the X-Tornado!" retorted Silver, pointing. Charmy buzzed off thataway. Silver shook his head at Tails, who was giggling up his sleeves.

"It's not even funny."

"Whatever you say," grinned Tails. "Say, where's Rouge?"

"Way back there," said Silver, pointing back at a faint white speck against the grayish sky. "She must have really miscalculated with that detour."

"No kidding. Gosh, she's going to be mad."

"That's for sure. Although she might still catch up to us, actually. I'm not even going full speed right now."

"Neither am I," laughed Tails. "This has been a really fun race, you know?"

"It has," said Silver. "And the X-Tornado's still in one piece, see!"

"Don't say anything till it crosses the finish line!" said Tails, a little panicky all of a sudden. "Don't jynx it!"

"I won't jynx it," snorted Silver. He glanced over at the faithfully buzzing little plane, now with Charmy perched on the middle of its top wing. Suddenly he grinned.

"You know, Tails," he said, slowing down, "We're all kind of in this race for fun, aren't we?"

"Except Rouge, yeah," said Tails, giving him a puzzled look. "Marine and Cream just entered to see what a big race was like, anyway."

"Right," said Silver. "And since it's their very first race...wouldn't it be awesome if they won it?"

"Yeah...I guess it would," agreed Tails. His face fell a little though, and Silver noticed.

"Oh—you were hoping to maybe get a chance at first place yourself, weren't you?" he asked gently.

"Yeah, I know it's not likely," said Tails, reddening. "But it almost feels so close now...Nevermind, I—"

"No, I've got it, " grinned Silver. "I've got the _perfect_ idea."

Marine was humming happily to herself and wiggling the X-Tornado's wings, and Cream was craning her neck to try see the finish line, when Silver suddenly popped up next to the plane.

"Hi, ladies!" he called above the propellor's roar. "And gentleman," he added, nodding to Charmy. "All of you, Tails has a proposition for ya."

"Guys!" whooped Tails, popping up on the other side of the plane, "Silver's had the coolest idea! We're the Kid Brigade, right?"

"Sure thing, mate. Why d'you ask?" asked Marine.

"What if we–the four of us–all got to win the race together?" asked Tails.

"Ripper!" cheered Marine. "But I don't know if I can push this plane any harder, mate."

"That's why Silver and I are gonna push it for you!" laughed Tails. "Hang on tight, Charmy!"

He grabbed the back of the X-Tornado's right wing, while Silver shouldered up against the back of the left wing. Both of them began to push with all their might, urging the little plane on at a wilder and wilder pace.

"Wooooohoooooo!" yelled Charmy, clinging to his perch for dear life. "Faster guys, faster!"

"Rouge is gaining on us!" shrieked Marine delightedly, flapping her arms. "Ohhhh, doesn't this blowed contraption go any faster?!"

"That's _my_ blowed contraption you're talking about!" called Tails indignantly, the wind blowing his scruff of hair way back. From down below, a great commotion of cheering could be heard from the finish line, as the onlookers wondered what the heck was going on, but approved heartily of it anyway. At least, most of them did. Knuckles had cast aside any remaining shreds of team pride and was alternately hollering at Rouge and Tails to get a move on; Omega and Shadow were watching quietly, resigned to whatever may come.

"Come on you two, you have to cheer her on!" called Amy. "She can still win it! She's catching up fast!"

"She wouldn't be able to hear our voices in this noise anyway," retorted Shadow. "Cheering is highly overrated."

"I bet she could hear you! Or at least your message would reach her somehow," protested Amy. "Why do you have to always be such a sourpuss? She needs to know you believe in her!"

"Frankly, at this point, we don't," replied Shadow. Amy blinked blankly, then scowled all the deeper.

"When this is over, I'm gonna smack you," she averred, brandishing her hammer. Shadow waved a hand at her dismissively and turned his eyes back to the sky.

"Man, this plane is heavier in the air than on the ground!" grunted Tails, straining to go faster.

"Almost there, Tails! We're almost at the finish line!" panted Silver. "Get on board now, or you won't count!"

Tails nodded and shot up onto the top of the plane, latching on next to Charmy and still whirring his tails to provide power. Silver circled to the very end of the plane's tail and began to push from there, putting all his might into it.

"Final stretch! You're home free! Go go go go GO!" he shouted, veritably throwing the plane across the finish line. He shoved so hard he wound up somersaulting in midair; the X-Tornado roared across the line, with its four passengers raising their fists to the sky and yowling for all they were worth.

Silver caught his balance, laughing, just in time for Rouge to sweep past him like a bullet, nearly flipping him over again. She pulled up hard in midair just a few feet past the finish line, her wings flapping furiously.

"Wasn't that awesome?" called Silver, crossing after her without even paying the laser line any mind. "The Kid Brigade wins their first race!"

He stopped when he got a better look at Rouge, who was pretty battered and clearly exhausted.

"Are you all right? What happened?" he asked, his eyes wide with concern. Rouge turned away with even looking at him. She surveyed the scene on the ground below—most everyone had gathered, whooping, around the Kid Brigade. Shadow and Omega were looking in her direction, though, and Knuckles was waving. Ugh...she didn't want to face them. She shook her head hard at them, swiped her hand in a "don't bother" motion, and swooped off into the woods nearby.

She zigzagged through the trees at a dangerous speed for a while, wanting to get good and far away. Once she was out of sight and hearing of the others, she more of crashed than properly landed and collapsed at the base of a tree, shutting her eyes and curling up on her side. She lay still a while. An occasional fit of trembling, from exhaustion and anger and the drizzling cold, washed over her every now and then.

"Rouge?" came a soft voice suddenly. "Please don't cry."

Rouge bolted upright, only to find Silver crouching next to her, his eyes still wide and worried.

"I am _not_ crying!" barked Rouge, attempting to slug him. He shied back just enough.

"Okay, I see that," he said evenly. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"No. Just go away, all right?" growled Rouge, folding her arms and giving him a warning look.

"I think it would be better if I stayed."

"Bad things happen when you try to think," retorted Rouge.

"Oh, you've definitely been hanging around Shadow too long," said Silver drily, settling down in earnest on the damp forest floor. "Come on, everyone is getting worried about you. They'll all come looking for you before you know it anyhow."

"Then be a dear and tell them where I am. That way," instructed Rouge, clambering to her feet and pointing off into the forest. Then she set off in the exact opposite direction.

"They won't come round here for a while. You should rest," said Silver, barely looking up. "You must have been trying really hard, to be that angry at a second-place finish!"

"It's not second, it's _fifth_," scowled Rouge, turning away. "_Four_ people crossed the line before me. Fifth is absolutely pathetic."

"It's second," said Silver. "And either way, it's not because you're slow, it's because you took that strange detour. What was that all about anyway?"

"There was a jet stream," sighed Rouge, sitting down in defeat. "And I wound up in a stormcloud and got thrown too far off-course."

"You're lucky to be alive," said Silver. He paused. "Was that really worth it?"

Rouge looked away, her ears sagging.

"...No. It was pretty stupid of me."

"Well, we're all just glad you're all right."

"Hmph. Ya think?"

"I stopped to talk to the others before I followed you. They're not mad, promise. They just want to know you're okay."

"Then go tell them I am," muttered Rouge.

Silver said nothing more, but he didn't leave either. Rouge shifted awkwardly, waiting for some further comment, then at last looked up resignedly.

"I know, I know," she sighed. "I...guess it's a bit low of me to create such a fuss and take away from the Kid Brigade's moment. I probably should just be happy that they all had a good time and won their first race, huh?"

"Yeah, that would be pretty nice of you," agreed Silver. Rouge sighed and got to her feet.

"Welp, okay then. Proceeding to shut up and suck it up. And I'll even be a dear and congratulate the little beasties."

"Better not. They may be kids, but they pick up on sarcasm pretty well," said Silver drily, hopping straight up into midair and preparing to leave.

"Just watch me," retorted Rouge, smirking. "I can fool _anyone._ They won't suspect a thing."

Silver resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Race you back?" grinned Rouge suddenly, shooting up through the tree canopy.

"No fair with the head start!" called Silver.

Rouge beat Silver back to the event hub pretty soundly, which soothed her temper a bit more. The others were milling about uneasily and vaguely forming up into search parties, unsure if they should check on Rouge or leave her in peace.

"Sorry to disappear like that; had a few things to sort out," breezed Rouge, landing with a violent snap of her wings, then folding them away and brushing herself off. She tried to look cool and collected, but she was fully aware that she just looked bedraggled and somewhat akin to a tossed salad.

"Are you all right?" asked Knuckles with an unusual gentleness, tilting his head.

"Sure, I'm fine," said Rouge through her teeth. "You all go on with whatever you were doing, now."

She got a few anxious looks and a concerned hug from Cream, but she tactfully dodged around most of the consolation directed her way and headed back to the crates where the rest of Team Dark was still lurking. Mentally she braced herself—she was really going to hear it from Shadow. Not like he'd actually say very much, but he had ways of letting you know when he was majorly ticked off. She knew, deep down inside, that he was probably just angry because he'd been worried about her–just for a little while there–but frankly, she could do without it.

Shadow was still perched quietly on a crate. Omega was half-shut-down and leaning against another, which looked on the verge of collapsing under his weight. Shadow opened one eye as Rouge sauntered in.

"Was that really worth it?" he asked irately. Rouge raised her eyebrows—deja vu.

"Nope," she replied honestly, hopping up onto yet another crate. "But you know. Whatever. It's over now."

Shadow regarded her with an expressionless face for a moment.

"What happened back there?" he asked all of a sudden. Rouge stiffened and gave him a hard glare. Was he mocking her with her own question from earlier?

Yes, yes he was. She knew Shadow well enough to detect the faintest traces of a bitter smirk playing across his muzzle.

"Oh, that's just fine!" Rouge snapped. "Now you're going to be smug because I was as miserable of a failure as _you_, huh? I coulda been killed!"

"Omega warned you about the clouds," said Shadow, ice lacing his voice. "You were fully aware of the danger. You were outright _told_ to stay out of trouble. Why, on this flaming planet, did you go diving into those clouds?"

"I wanted to win that race!"

"Well, here's a novel concept: don't bother," growled Shadow. "You gain almost nothing except bragging rights even if you do win. I know you have your weird competitive streak, but could you at least act like a sane person? Do you think Omega and I enjoy twiddling our thumbs and wondering if you've been dashed to pieces in some stormcloud?"

"Awwww. Were you _worried?_" grinned Rouge, knowing that was the sharpest barb she could use.

"We were all very concerned about your safety," interjected Omega from nearby. Shadow jerked his thumb in a "speak for yourself" manner.

"Omegs, I think you may not want to get involved in this," warned Rouge gently. Omega shut down a bit further, as it looked like a row was about to break out. Rouge was already eyeing Shadow with a challenging smirk, but the tension was abruptly broken by a splintering sound, followed by a crash—the poor crate Omega had been leaning on did have its limits. Omega woke up and buzzed his gears puzzledly, wondering why his field of vision had changed without his consent.

There was a bit of silence. Shadow groaned under his breath and dragged his palm down his face; Rouge began to giggle stifledly, trying not to hurt Omega's feelings.

"You okay, big boy?" she asked, flapping over and landing on Omega's chassis so she could look him in the "eyes".

"I am undamaged, but conditions make righting myself prohibitive," replied Omega plaintively. "There is very little traction."

"Well, we can't have you lying down on the job," chuckled Rouge, hopping down and grabbing one of the robot's shoulders. "You're in the next competition, and I don't think they allow you to compete while napping."

"I assure you I am fully awake," said Omega gravely, trying to help as Rouge struggled to heave him upright. The ground _was_ slippery though, and Rouge kept finding herself treadmilling as she strained to heave a ton and a half of metal against its center of gravity. It didn't really help that the metal was flailing about futilely, either.

At last Shadow lost patience with the spectacle. With a disgusted snort, he swung off his crate, shooed Rouge aside, and unceremoniously heaved Omega upright. He gave him quite a shove—enough to overshoot "upright" and send the robot crashing down in the other direction.

"Niiiiiice going," said Rouge drily, then gave up and collapsed into laughter. An echoing peal of merriment came from nearby; Sonic had evidently come over and caught at least part of the episode. Shadow, annoyed and embarrassed, was turning redder than Omega's paintwork; Omega was evidently not too happy about the turn of events either.

"Gosh, I'm really sorry Omega," said Rouge, still laughing as she started to haul at the robot's shoulder again. "You poor thing—Shads and I are having our little spats, and you're the one who suffers. Don't take it personally, 'kay big boy?"

"Very well," said Omega, even more stiffly than usual, as Sonic came to help by hauling at the other shoulder.

"Look, are you guys planning on playing 'Toss the Robot' much longer?" grinned Sonic. "The strength competition is going to start soon!"

"Toss the Robot?" Rouge stifled a laugh. "We know, Sonic, we know. That's why I'm trying to get Omega on his feet here!"

At last she and Sonic managed to get Omega standing steadily. He stepped back from them, dipping his head in a silent gesture of thanks.

"Better get going, Bolts," advised Sonic, heading off. "Just follow me!"

"Wait up," called Rouge, rubbing Omega down a little with a rag so he wouldn't look a total disgrace. "There. Off you go then. No pressure, Omega—things couldn't possibly get either better or worse from here. Just do your best, 'kay?"

"I shall," replied Omega, stepping off after Sonic. Rouge and Shadow watched quietly, fully aware that he probably was going to perform poorly now because he was annoyed. Rouge sighed, but suddenly giggled again.

"Toss the Robot," she muttered, and flapped off after Omega. Shadow hopped back up onto his crate irately. He didn't even want to watch; by now he'd be annoyed no matter how the competition turned out.


	6. The Strength Competition

**A/N: Okay, there's another reference in this chapter! For a hint, it's a reference to a popular meme-type saying that was originally a line in a TV series. Good luck!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co, or Maria the Hedgehog, or the series/meme referenced.**

* * *

The strength competition was announced by Blaze, because Maria was _in_ the competition and thus would have a more difficult time leading. The competitors were herded together near the podium as Blaze adjusted the microphone. Omega was there, as was Maria. Big the Cat, Amy, and Knuckles were the other participants.

"All right, competitors, are you ready?" asked Blaze. A cheer of assent was returned.

"Let me just run quickly over the rules, then," smiled Blaze. "As in the other two events, pretty much anything is permitted here! The only rule is the each competitor must exert some type of force on the provided force-sensing plate." She gestured at a large sheet of metal that was connected to a huge number of braces and springs and wires, and bolstered by an even huger number of trusses and beams. That sensor would really be taking a beating soon.

"Each competitor will get two chances to attack the force plate. The winner will be the one who exerts the greatest force at any given point in time," Blaze continued. "Someone who exerts 500 pounds of pressure for only half of a second will still beat someone who exerts 200 pounds of pressure for two minutes. Tails has designed the sensor so that it records the maximum pressure exerted between the start and stop period, even if that pressure disappears so fast we can't read the number." Some whoops rang out in appreciation for Tails' skill; the little fox blushed modestly, his hair-scruff still tousled up from the flight race. Blaze smiled and waited for the quiet to return.

"Yes, many thanks to Tails! Now, let's have a look at the competitors. I understand we have a stunning lineup this year—out of the five participants, not one of them will be attacking the force plate in the same manner! First we have Amy Rose, who will be using her Piko Piko Hammer!"

"Noooo! Surprise of a lifetime!" joked Sonic, but joined in the general holler of approval as Amy produced her hammer and swung it in an arc over her head, grinning fiercely. She was ready to eat up the competition, on fine china with mustard.

"Knuckles the Echidna will be using his fists!" continued Blaze, as Knuckles, dreadlocks swinging, shot his fists into the air one after the other. He got a roar of approval too.

"E-123 Omega will be using mechanical power channeled through his robotic arm!" announced Blaze. Omega seemed a little bewildered as to what to do, although you'd have to know him really well to be able to read that. Rouge caught it, of course.

"Go Omega, go! Show 'em what you're made of!" she hollered above everyone else's shouting, cupping her hands around her mouth to channel the sound. Omega heard, and swung one arm over his head and all the way around, evidently figuring out how this whole showing-off thing worked. Rouge grinned and whisked out of the crowd to find Shadow, while Blaze went on with the presentation.

"Big the Cat will be using...er, himself..." She scratched her temple sheepishly. "Er, charging the force plate, Big?"

"Where's Fwoggy?" asked Big plaintively. Some laughter, but he got a big round of cheering as well.

"And lastly, Maria Robotnik!" called Blaze, as the little girl smiled shyly and gave a rather timid wave. She wasn't used to being the center of attention. "Maria will be using an invention she built all by herself, designed to amplify the force channeled into it!"

One final round of cheering, and much stamping of feet, as Maria trotted to a nearby crate, opened the side of it, and pulled out a jumbled mass of metal on a little metal cart. It was all gears and pipes and levers and things; heaven knew how it worked. Well, heaven and Maria, evidently.

"All right then, I think that covers everything!" said Blaze. "Let the competition begin!"

Amy Rose stepped up with her hammer, to a storm of cheers.

Meanwhile, Rouge found Shadow still perched on the crate.

"What are you doing over here? Come on, we have to cheer for Omega!"

"Go ahead," said Shadow.

"Don't be stupid," snorted Rouge, grabbing him by the arm and hauling him forcibly to his feet. "He needs us! Or if you don't wanna cheer for him, what about Maria? She looks like she's scared stiff by all the competition and noise and all—I bet it would help if she saw a friendly face in the crowd!"

"It's not like everyone else in that crowd is her enemy," grumbled Shadow, but Rouge knew she had him sold. He grudgingly followed her to the strength event, staying a bit away from the rest of the audience.

By then Amy had finished her two rounds. Tails flew up and pushed a button on top of the display screen either time. The little device would beep and show a reading of the highest force exerted. Amy had whacked her hammer with a force of 851 pounds per square inch the first time, then 854 the second time. She shook her head displeasedly as she walked back to the contestants' circle—she knew that wasn't her best performance.

Sure enough, Knuckles went on and drove his fists into the force plate like there was no tomorrow. He left two sets of twin holes in the sheet metal from the spikes on his knuckles, but he registered 942 and 935 pounds per square inch. He shook his dreadlocks proudly and stalked back to his place. Amy ruefully extended a hand to shake; he took it, smiling.

Another cheer went up for Omega as he clanked a little nervously up to the force plate.

"Come on Omega! You can do it!" called Rouge. Shadow folded his arms and shut his eyes stubbornly.

Omega swung up his right arm and touched it to the force plate. There was a whirring of gears from inside his body, and he leaned his weight onto that arm. The force plate groaned slightly until he released the pressure. Tails pressed the button on the display screen...commotion ensued when the reading said 941 pounds per square inch.

"What's happening?" asked Cream, who was not yet very proficient with numbers, and was too short to see the display screen from where she stood anyway.

"Omega's only one pound behind Knuckles!" squealed Amy. "If he can push just a _little_ harder this time!..."

Rouge was showing similar excitement where she stood. Shadow shook his head at her warningly.

"It'd be nice if he could push a little harder," he said, "but he's a robot. He has a standardized body that exerts the same kind of force every time. Effort has nothing to do with it."

"What do you know?" snapped Rouge. "Come on, we have to holler so he knows we think he can do it!"

"You holler," scowled Shadow.

"Shads, come on, pleeeeease? If we lose it'll be your fault!"

Shadow sighed grudgingly. As Omega prepared for his next attempt, the whole crowd began to stamp and chant his name—even Knuckles! They were all excited to see such an amazingly close battle playing out. Shadow shook his head annoyedly, but put two fingers to his lips and blew a taxi whistle, if only to get Rouge off his case.

"That's more like it!" grinned Rouge, then turned her attention back to Omega. Evidently a little bewildered by all the excitement, he turned from side to side slightly, robot eyes blinking. Then he appeared to regain his composure and placed his arm against the force plate again. Again he pressed at it with all his might...The reading on the display screen quivered up and down wildly, fluctuating between the mid nine hundreds to the low nine hundreds down to the eight hundreds, then all the way back up again, too fast for anyone to tell what the numbers actually read. Except maybe Shadow, who saw things at a much higher framerate than the average Mobian.

At last Omega pulled away from the forceplate and stepped back. Several of the other competitors and some of the audience crowded around him, eager to see the results. Rouge pulled Shadow over by the wrist.

"Was that you whistling?" asked Omega, as Tails flew up to the display screen.

"No," scowled Shadow, looking away.

"Many thanks," replied Omega without missing a beat. Rouge chuckled and elbowed a reddening Shadow.

"NINE HUNDRED FORTY-FOUR!" screeched Tails, pulling back to reveal said number on the display screen. Much uproar and hollering ensued.

"You _did_ it!" cheered Rouge, diving at Omega's head and hugging him.

"Rouge, for the love of Mike, Team Dark does _not_ do hugs!" scolded Shadow, only for Omega to scoop him up and half-crush him.

"Put me down, you metallic maniac," growled Shadow, kicking. Omega dropped him with an amused beeping sound; he landed on his feet and disappeared in a flash of black fur.

"Oh, ignore Mr. Grumpy-pants over there. You were amazing," laughed Rouge, patting the robot on the head.

"There are still competitors remaining, however," said Omega seriously. "I may not hold first place for long."

"But you did well now, and we're proud of you either way," smiled Rouge. "You just proved that effort _does_ matter, even for a robot!"

Omega made no reply, but his gears ground against each other in a manner Rouge had never heard before. She and Shadow had learned that there was quite a lot of emotion hidden in the mundane mechanical noises Omega often made, and she was pretty sure that this particular sound signified pure joy.

Omega trotted dizzily back to the competitor's ring. Big was ushered out of it, still murmuring protests about "Fwoggy" having disappeared in the crowd, and had anyone seen him?

"Big, come on silly!" scolded Amy gently. "We'll help you find Froggy when the competition is over. Don't you want to compete?"

Big didn't seem to hear her; he was staring at the force-plate contraption.

"Big? Uh, Big?"

"FWOGGY!" hollered Big all of a sudden, and charged at the force-plate. He collided with it at a pretty fair velocity, but it didn't seem to faze him in the least. He was much more concerned with grabbing a somewhat irate frog from the top of the device.

"Fwoggy!" he murmured happily, hugging the by now thoroughly unamused amphibian. Still clutching Froggy, he prepared to head off.

"Big, wait! You still get another try at the force plate!" called Blaze into the microphone. "Wait! _Big!_"

Big noticed he was being called and looked up at Blaze expectantly.

"Don't you want to try again, Big?" asked Blaze.

"I found Fwoggy!" announced Big, holding up the frog to elucidate his point.

"...I'll...take that as a No," said Blaze.

"Oh Big," sighed Amy, as the large cat headed happily off to resume fishing, with Froggy hopping resignedly by his side. Chuckling, Tails pressed the button on the display screen to show how much force Big had exerted on the plate. It was only 781 pounds per square inch.

"His heart wasn't really in it," commented Sonic, shaking his head.

"I'll say," muttered Amy.

Last up was Maria. Shadow had mysteriously reappeared, but on the opposite side of the crowd from his teammates. Maria headed out of the competitors' ring, pulling her contraption on its little cart. Knuckles helped her out, pushing from the back.

"Thank you!" she smiled, before setting to work lining up the contraption. She squinted through a crosshair, aligning various strange mechanisms to her satisfaction. Once she was finished, she glanced around nervously at the crowd, then started to slowly turn a crank on the side of the contraption. Various groanings and creakings ensued, as things locked together and unlocked and ground against each other and wound each other up.

At length Maria stopped cranking, a little out of breath; evidently the job became harder and harder, and she couldn't turn the handle anymore. Taking a deep breath, she pulled down a little lever on the side of the machine. There was an explosion of metallic sounds, and a large part of the contraption, a little bigger than a microwave, just flew off the top of it. However, it missed the force plate entirely.

The crowd watched in amazed silence (for once!) as the metal projectile hit the ground next to the force plate and buried itself deep into the mud, skidding a good ten feet and plowing up a two-foot-deep trench before finally stopping. Sonic whistled.

"That," he said, "Is a _lot_ of power."

Maria, meanwhile, was looking somewhat crestfallen.

"I'm really sorry," she said apologetically, heading over to the steaming projectile and beginning to tug at it futilely. "The aiming mechanism isn't perfect. By a long shot."

"Want a hand?" asked Knuckles, as he, Omega, and Amy trotted over.

"But I'm not allowed to have outside help, am I?" asked Maria.

"Pshaw. If we help you get your thingamajig back onto your...whatever-it-is, it has nothing to do with how hard the whatever-it-is throws the thingamajig!" said Knuckles, somewhat convolutedly.

"He means that helping you now has nothing to do with how well you do, so there's no reason helping you wouldn't be allowed," translated Amy.

"Oh, thank you so much!" said Maria, smiling from ear to ear. "At least you'll only have to do it once! I'm pretty sure that counted as one try."

The others exchanged glances, but didn't argue the matter. Shadow and Sonic came over to help too.

The metal projectile was dug out of the ground, hauled back to the main machine, and hoisted up onto the top. Maria bolted it back down appropriately and readjusted the aim, this time nudging it a little more to the left. For her the crowd was silent—her efforts were more of precision work than heavyweight stuff, so cheering would only be a distraction. There was plenty to be said for silent encouragement, though.

Maria finally finished adjusting her aim, eyeing the crosshairs somewhat dubiously. She had no idea if she would overshoot in the other direction now, or not. She glanced around at the crowd, and caught the briefest of winks and a nod from Shadow. That improved her confidence a bit. Smiling, she began to crank at the contraption's handle again.

At last she stopped winding up the mechanism. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the lever again, and the projectile again exploded off to the side. This time it was aimed perfectly.

There was a horrific crash, and a shower of small scraps of metal. When the noise subsided, the force plate lay split in half, and the mechanism behind it lay all over the ground, having essentially exploded.

"Well...lucky she went last," said Amy blankly.

"I think we have a winner!" said Blaze brightly, recovering from her surprise. There was a slew of cheers; Maria's eyes were wide with delight.

"I didn't know it was that powerful!" she admitted, regarding the shattered force plate with some trepidation. "I guess my blueprints were a little off."

"Just out of curiosity, how much force _was_ that?" asked Sonic. Tails went over and began to dig amongst the wreckage of the force plate. When he pulled out the relatively unharmed display screen, a small crowd gathered around to see what the result would be. The little group abruptly scattered, however, when Tails pushed the button on top of the display screen and it exploded.

"Let's just say...a lot," said Tails, shaking his head ruefully. "The display screen only goes up to nine thousand."

"Gee whiz," said Maria dizzily.


	7. Finale

**A/N: Okay, the reference from the last chapter was to DragonBall Z. When Tails says the sensor malfunctioned because it couldn't go over nine thousand, it refers to that famous line, "It's OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAND!" I've never even seen a DragonBall Z episode, but YouTube is drowning in that meme. It's been in Sonic Shorts, "Kids React" videos, comments joking about Archie Comics...yeah, pretty much everywhere.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co.**

* * *

After the uproar had died down, Vector and Espio began to drift about purposefully, exchanging murmurs with Sonic and Blaze. At last the Team Chaotix members stepped up onto the podium with a large sack. Vector stepped nervously up to the mike.

"All right everybody—" he began, then stopped in consternation when he saw hands flying to ears throughout the crowd.

"Perhaps you shouldn't use the microphone," suggested Espio.

Grumbling, Vector stepped aside and stood next to the podium, relying on his own loud voice to reach everyone.

"All right, everyone! It's time for the awards ceremony! Could the winners of the ground race please step up to the podium?"

Jet, Blaze, and Sonic stepped up, smiling, and took their places. Sonic was on the right, on the lowest platform, Blaze was on the left, second-highest, and Jet was in the middle, on the very top, looking fit to explode with pride.

"Boy, am I gonna have somethin' to tell the others!" he crowed quietly. Sonic chuckled.

"Gonna make those two sorry they didn't come, huh?"

"You bet," Jet replied, grinning.

"First place, Jet the Hawk!" called Vector, as Espio pulled a gold medal from the sack and slipped it over the hawk's head. Jet fingered the little shimmery circle fondly, evidently calculating the price he could get for it.

"I get to keep it, right?" he asked a trifle avariciously, and glared as Sonic burst out laughing.

"Sure, keep it as long as you want. All yours," grinned Sonic.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing, it's fine if you want to keep it!" Sonic replied, trying not to chuckle.

* * *

While Espio was taking a few pictures of the ground race winners, the winners of the flight race–in other words, all the participants!–were lining up.

"Oh, so now you're not calling it a fifth place finish anymore?" Silver asked.

"Are you kidding? Fifth place gets no medal—I'll take a bit of silver over nothing!" said Rouge, folding her arms.

"I thought you'd say that," chuckled Silver.

"Wise guy," Rouge grinned.

When their turn came, they all stepped onto the podium. The Kid Brigadiers all squeezed themselves onto the top platform, but kept falling off. Charmy and Tails hopped up into the air and hovered just above Marine and Cream, and received their medals that way. For the pictures, they all hopped down onto the ground in front of the podium. Silver and Rouge graciously stayed in the background so the kids could enjoy their special moment.

Sonic chuckled as he watched the youngsters hamming it up for the camera. Poor Espio was a little befuddled; he was _trying_ to take nice, normal pictures, and the kids' exuberance flustered him a bit.

"Why don't you bite your medals?" suggested Sonic brightly. "Like in the Olympics."

"Uh, what?" asked Charmy.

"Oh, right! The tradition!" said Tails eagerly, fumbling with his medal. "It's an old Olympic custom for gold-winning athletes to bite their medals when they get their picture taken. I think it started from the way people would bite gold coins to see if they were real. Because you see, gold is a very soft metal, and—"

"Stow the science, mate!" said Marine, bulldozing through Tails's speech before it even properly started. "Let's just get that picture taken!"

The youngsters grabbed their medals and bit into them lightly—but their grins quickly vanished and were replaced by confused expressions, as they removed their prizes from their mouths and studied them bewilderedly.

"That is definitely _not_ gold," said Tails, looking at the oddly bent medal in his hand.

"No, better! It's _chocolate!_" squealed Cream. "In a foil wrapper!"

There was a startled "AWK!" from nearby, as Jet realized the value of his medal had just dropped significantly. Sonic keeled over laughing again, while Rouge, also a trifle dismayed, gave her silver medal an annoyed look.

The kids, however, were very pleased with the situation. An explosion of tin foil rustling, and the medals promptly vanished.

"No, wait! We have to take more...pictures," sighed Espio, as the last of the prizes was mercilessly chewed into a sweet paste and swallowed.

"Aw, let 'em have their fun," grinned Sonic, then ducked just in time to avoid a punch from Jet.

"Very funny, ya overgrown hairbrush!" scowled the hawk, glaring. "Why didn't ya tell me the medals were made of chocolate?"

"Did you honestly think we could afford real gold ones?" asked Sonic, rolling his eyes.

Jet stood glaring, his feathers ruffled with annoyance, his beak opening and closing as he tried to find something to say. Sonic stifled a snicker, but stopped when he got another murderous glare from Jet.

"Fine!" growled the hawk, turning away. "You have your fun! I'm gonna go look for some _real_ treasure, and then we'll see who's laughing!"

"Hey, don't go yet! There's gonna be a party after we give out the awards!" called Vector, noticing that Jet was powering up his hoverboard.

"There's gonna be CAKE!" whooped Charmy in agreement, still licking chocolate off his fingers.

"Well, save me a piece—_not!_" snapped Jet, and whizzed off.

"Grouch," muttered Sonic, shaking his head.

* * *

The awards ceremony continued. Maria, simply glowing with delight, clambered onto the top platform, while Knuckles hopped up into third place. Omega presented more of a problem, however. He eyed the comparatively small second-place platform dubiously, then stepped cautiously onto it with one leg. At the dangerous creaking sound that ensued, he quickly removed that leg and shook his head anxiously. Several times he tried it again, but never felt it was quite safe to actually put his weight on the small platform.

"I do not believe I should stand upon this platform," he remarked at last. "Permission to stand next to the platform in question?"

"Granted," said Espio, nodding seriously.

"Aww, then I'll stand next to mine too!" smiled Maria, jumping down from the first-place platform. "To make it more fair."

"Heck, all the same to me," agreed Knuckles, stepping down as well.

"Many thanks," said Omega politely.

Espio slipped the gold medal over Maria's neck, then turned to Omega with some unease. He was pretty sure the medal wouldn't fit over Omega's head, even ignoring the fact that the robot had no neck. Omega was remarkably resourceful, however. He calmly put forward one hand, signifying Espio should slip the medal over his wrist. Nodding, Espio obliged. Knuckles stood still to receive his bronze, then shook his head to redistribute his dreadlocks over the lanyard and smiled patiently for Espio's camera.

"Thanks a bunch," he said in his usual straightforward manner. "Do we have cake now?"

"CAKE!" whooped Charmy, turning a sumersault in midair.

"If he gets that hyper after a chocolate coin, I hate to think what that cake'll do to him," muttered Vector.

The party began. It was a pretty small affair, just some punch and a large cake made by Vanilla and Amy, but it was still the best celebration anyone could have asked for. Everyone was weary, but full of adrenaline and in a hoppingly good mood. There was no need for anything fancy.

"A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou," remarked Silver, handing Blaze a piece of cake and a cup of punch. "We shall dine like kings."

"Don't try to get fancy with me, mister," scolded Blaze good-naturedly. "Your teeth are turning blue from the frosting, and I find it impossible to take you seriously. Also, you got the poem all wrong."

"It's a poem?"

"The Rubaiyat."

"Where do you even learn these things?"

"I enjoy reading. Also, it's expected of princesses."

Silver smiled, but ruefully. Blaze caught it.

"Did I say something?"

"I guess cake and punch isn't really what you're used to, huh?" asked Silver, shrugging. "This place must seem like a backwoods nest of hillbillies to you. Like a frothing jungle. Like a..."

"A wilderness? Maybe. But I like it better than palace life, believe me," assured Blaze. "It's so much more interesting, and with fewer restrictions. And..." she paused and looked into the distance for a minute.

"You should look up that poem," she said at last. "It's very true."

From her smile, Silver guessed that was a good thing.

Meanwhile, Sonic was busy chattering and laughing with everyone he ran into, and half-heartedly avoiding Amy. Eventually he came upon Shadow, perched on his everlasting crate a good distance from the general crowd. He was quietly downing a piece of cake.

"Wow, didn't know you were such a party animal, Shads," teased Sonic. "What if pictures of this wound up on the internet, huh?"

Shadow looked at Sonic with one eye, then resumed his consumption of the cake.

"Geez, are you still mad about losing that stupid race?"

"Not particularly," said Shadow, still methodically demolishing the cake. "However, I take it Rouge is not very happy about the medals."

"Oh, is she? I didn't notice," admitted Sonic, scratching behind one ear. "I was kinda distracted by the look on Jet's face!"

Shadow left the cake alone long enough to regard Sonic silently for a while.

"What? What'd I say?"

"Nothing unusual—for you," muttered Shadow. "You need to grow up, Faker."

"Yup, probably do," said Sonic, not the least bit concerned. "Cumonnnnn, don't be such a grump. You know it was funny! Anyone who races just so they can sell the medal deserves a bit of a letdown now and then."

"Care to say that to Rouge's face?" smirked Shadow. Sonic shuddered melodramatically. Silence for a minute.

"So then, why do you race?" Shadow asked suddenly, setting the cake aside. Sonic looked up from his thoughts, startled.

"What's that?"

"Why all this brouhaha? Why do you all hold this event?" asked Shadow. "You just said it's not for money. It can't be for bragging rights or for the thrill of racing. You could get those with a lot less effort, just by rounding up a couple of other people and having an informal race. Why do you go to all this extra trouble?"

Sonic studied Shadow's face critically for a second. He wasn't being sarcastic, he really wanted to know the reason.

"First of all, it's more fun when it's a bigger event," Sonic began.

"Oh, sweet Mobius," muttered Shadow, raising his eyes heavenward and reaching for his cake again. "I might have known you'd come up with that kind of excuse."

"Hang on, there's a bigger reason," said Sonic. He waved back at the merrily mingling crowd nearby. "Look at those guys. Having the time of their lives. Think about everything that happened today, all the events, everyone having fun. Sure, there are some people who take it too seriously. Heck, there are some people who take _everything_ seriously."

He grinned cheekily, but Shadow didn't take the bait, so he continued.

"But all in all, today wasn't even about competing with others. Today was about rooting for others, helping others out, showing off your best side. You should know. Remember how Maria got help from the very people she was competing against? Remember how even Knuckles cheered when Omega was trying to beat him? Or how Silver went to talk to Rouge when she was mad about losing? Or how everyone tried to cheer you up when _you_ were mad about losing?" Sonic paused, then added with a grin, "By the way, your bad luck in the race started when Blaze drew ahead of you and crossed the lake, didn't it? She and I helped each other. So yeah, I think you might have noticed that."

Shadow ignored the teasing; he was thinking. Even aside from the things Sonic had listed, the ones affecting Shadow or his closest friends, there'd been other incidents of kindness or good fellowship all day too. Sonic letting Jet enjoy his victory, Marine and the other flight contestants allowing Cream to tag along, Maria and Knuckles stepping down to be level with Omega, Silver helping make the Kid Brigade's day...even Rouge eventually letting go and allowing the kids to celebrate their win.

And what about Shadow? He wasn't in the habit of caring what people thought of his actions. But...all day, he'd been the opposite of what Sonic was talking about. He hadn't helped anyone win, certainly not any of his rivals. He'd refused to cheer for Rouge, annoyed her instead of comforting her, barely been forced to root for Omega even a little, heck, he'd even impatiently brushed off the others' attempts to be nice. Thinking about it, he...almost felt a little guilty. And guilt was _not_ an emotion he was particularly familiar with.

Sonic seemed to understand, though.

"Hey, enough with the long face," he said lightly. "You were a good sport, you kept your temper, you didn't hurt anyone. That's better than ole Jet, and it's about as much as we expect from you, bein' such a grouch and all!" He winked. "You don't have to feel bad."

"Who said I felt guilty?" growled Shadow, resenting Sonic's ability to see through him. "I'm just trying not to be sick here. If I never in all my eternal life hear such a sappy story again, it'll be much too soon!"

Sonic laughed heartily, ignoring the look Shadow gave him.

"All right, be that way," he said, still chuckling. "But be that way later. Like I said, this whole event is just so everyone can come together. Come on, join the party!"

"And stand there like an idiot?" snorted Shadow. "No thanks. I like watching. You get out of here, and I'll be perfectly happy."

"Forget it. If you keep on partying like you are now, you'll freakin' hurt yourself," grinned Sonic. "Why don't you just settle down a little and take a breather? Let somebody else be the life of the party for a change!"

Shadow gave the grinning Sonic a disgruntled look.

"Faker," he said, as patiently as he could manage. "Why don't you go get some cake?"

"Eh, I'd rather stay here and be annoying."

"Oh, well then. You want my piece?" asked Shadow significantly.

Sonic was wise enough to disappear. Smirking, Shadow leaned back on the crate and watched the general spectacle passively. Knuckles and Vector were arguing good-naturedly about something, or perhaps nothing. Silver and Blaze were sitting side by side, solemnly clinking together paper cups of punch as if toasting with champagne. Rouge, Maria, and Amy were deep in conversation with Vanilla, laughing together in perfect understanding. The Kid Brigade, meanwhile, was more or less turning backflips from a combination of adrenaline and sugar. They were telling each other jokes that weren't even particularly funny, and laughing uproariously to the point of choking on their punch. Espio and Omega were watching their antics in blank puzzlement.

And Sonic? Ah, he'd finally gone to get himself a piece of cake.

"My compliments to the bakers!" he called to Vanilla and Amy, fetching himself a plastic spoon. He was just about to dig in when a green streak shot in front of his vision. He blinked surprisedly and looked around, then shrugged it off and returned to his cake.

Only he no longer had any cake. Heck, he didn't even have the _plate_ anymore. Again he looked all around bewilderedly, then got the idea to look up.

"_Jet!_" he hollered. "Give me back my cake!"

"I told you not to save me a piece—I'd much rather have yours!" crowed Jet, essaying to scarf down his prize on the fly.

Sonic glared for a second, then relaxed, sighed, and shook his head good-naturedly.

"All right, very funny," he conceded, spreading his hands in defeat. "I'll let you off today; you can have that piece and welcome. I'll just go get another."

Jet gave him a surprised look.

"Well...thanks," he said at last.

"Yeah, well. Don't get used to it, birdbrain," grinned Sonic, rolling his eyes. He got another piece of cake, only to have it disappear again before he could even taste it.

"JET!"

"Mine!" squawked Jet, powering up his extreme gear for a quick getaway.

"Oh, that does it. I'll get you for that!" growled Sonic, throwing himself after the hawk.

After chasing each other in circles for a while, the hedgehog and hawk got into a tugging match over the paper plate.

"You've had your cake, now let go and lemme have mine!" ordered Sonic.

"Don't you ever learn?" retorted Jet. "We Babylon Rogues _always_ have our cake and eat it too!"

"What does that have to do with having MY cake and eating it too?"

"All the cake in the world is ours! It says so in the ancient—AWK!" squawked Jet, for the second time that day.

Sonic followed Jet's gaze, only to find that he was tugging on an empty plate.

"All right, who's the wise guy?" protested Sonic, turning to the others with a very annoyed expression. Nobody owned up. Jet chuckled suddenly.

"Aww, forget it," he said. "Enough arguing. I'll get my own cake, you get yours."

"That's more like it," grinned Sonic.

Back on his crate, Shadow chewed contentedly. Hey, stopping an argument could be his good deed for the day, and he even got extra cake for his troubles.


End file.
